


Skateboarding Sucks (My Friends are Losers)

by BearWritesThings (Halaani)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: And likes to hide in his wings, Bat Jon, Bets are a TERRIBLE Idea, Bird Gavin, Bull Ryan, Cat Michael, Coonhound Original Character, Gen, Hybrid!AU, Jon is smol and mad, Lion Jack, Ram Geoff, The Guys Feel Bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 02:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4811438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halaani/pseuds/BearWritesThings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a bet that lands Jon in the hospital and the AH boys on the wrong side of his ire.</p><p>OR</p><p>5 Times the Boys Tried to Apologize and Jon Tried Not To Care</p><p>And</p><p>1 Time He Did</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skateboarding Sucks (My Friends are Losers)

**Author's Note:**

> First crack at RT fanfic, but I figured this was as good a way as any to get back into the game of writing after my summer hiatus. Plus I've always loved Padalickingood's Hybrid!AU and all the works that come out of it.
> 
> Minor note, in this universe, Hybrids sometimes form family Prides. It's simply a more instinctual version of a Family-By-Choice.
> 
> Research on Bat vocalizations was done through an actual book I own.

It started with a bet. Of course it did. Things like this, that escalate so quickly and end so badly in the Rooster Teeth offices, especially in the Achievement Hunter office, almost always start with a bet.

It started on a sunny Monday, Jon curled up on his spot on the couch, his wings tucked neatly behind him as he doodled absentmindedly on his tablet. He spent a lot of his off time here in this spot because, let's face it, some of his best quotes to work with come from Let's Plays and other videos. Today they were playing a Tony Hawk game and, unsurprisingly, the conversation had moved to skateboarding and their collective skills in it.

Or lack thereof, Ryan gleefully pointed out, his tail swishing in amusement as Gavin and Michael were immediately riled up over his accusations. From there it quickly descended into a warped rendition of "anything you can do I can do better" until somehow, and he wasn't sure how with as absorbed as he was in his work, the attention landed on him. They wanted to see his skills. Jon wanted absolutely no part of it. None at all.

Of course, none of them were to be dissuaded, not even the usually level headed Jack spoke out much against the idea and for days the Lads, Ryan and Geoff pestered him until, finally on Friday he relented angrily, if only to get them to _shut up_. That afternoon, the lot of them piled into their vehicles and headed for a nearby park that had a small skateboarding area. Alex Trey, a short production assistant, and the company's unofficial medic, had tagged along in Jon's car with his kit in the back. He seemed startled to be pulled away from working on an upcoming short by an excited looking Michael and Gavin and he allowed himself to be dragged to the kit and then out to the cars, floppy red ears perked in confusion and amusement.

Now, as they pulled up at the park, the bat and coonhound hybrid clambered out of the car and followed after the lads, Geoff, Jack and Ryan padding behind them. Alex settled himself onto a nearby bench, his kit on the table and the AH guys settled around the ramp with their phones while Jon climbed up the ladder, the borrowed skateboard and helmet in his hands, on loan from Miles. He hadn't skateboarded in years, he was wasn't even sure he could anymore now that he had his wings, and atop his head his ears twitched nervously, a soft chitter escaping him.

"Come on Risinger! We don't have all fucking day!" bleated Geoff, the ram hybrid shaking his head in impatience and Jon wanted nothing more than to crawl down and leave. But he didn't. Instead, he set the skateboard down, strapped on the helmet, settled his feet and leaned forward. There was a moment of weightlessness and then he was flying down the ramp. He wobbled briefly but quickly corrected himself and bent his knees slightly, giggling softly to himself as he relaxed into it. Apparently, though it had been awhile, his body remembered the old motions. He leaned into a small hop, a little twist, as he easily rocked up and down the ramp.

Around him he could hear the cheering of the others and he was content to pull a few more small tricks before stopping.

Of course, that was when it all went wrong.

Jon would be forever fuzzy on what happened next. He knew only that the cheering turned to shouting, as it was often wont to do among this group but then suddenly Gavin was _right there_ and Jon didn't know what to do and then there was more screaming, scared this time, and Jon did his best to steer away from him. There was a moment of nothing, then falling, then _painpainpain_.

Then nothing.

~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*

Alex rested easily on the bench, his lengthy, deep red tail wagging gently as he grinned. He'd been afraid when he'd been dragged out to this. It had been obvious that he'd been dragged along as a medic and not for his production expertise and he really hoped he wasn't needed. And for most of the time it looked like he wasn't going to be needed after all. Jon got into it, was smiling and pulling small tricks and the others were digging it, laughing and clapping and getting the last of the footage they wanted. And then Michael and Gavin were yelling and Michael seemed genuinely angry. Ryan and Geoff tried to separate them, and then they were between them and Gavin was flailing, a mass of feathers and arms.

Straight onto the ramp.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment as Jon's eyes shot wide, his wings shot out in a frantic attempt to stabilize and then he was down, falling to the polished wood of the ramp and not moving. No one seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation and there were calls to mock Gavin for getting pushed and to coax Jon to get up. But Jon wasn't moving. He wasn't making any noise, or cursing them for making him fall. Jon wasn't doing anything at all.

Alex was up in a flash, sprinting over and kneeling down. Jon's eyes were closed and while there was no blood, a horrid bruise was already forming on the side of his face and both his left wing and arm were bent in a way no arm or wing was meant to bend.

"Shit." Alex breathed. He dare not move Jon from his position on his back, he could very well have a brain injury from the fall, but he needed to get him to a hospital now. The others had gathered around, horrified until Alex snapped at them to give him room. "Make yourselves useful!" he barked, hands fluttering as he checked Jon's pulse, opened his eyelids to see cloudy eyes. "Jack, call the ambulance! Ryan give me my kit. The rest of you give me space!" He needed room, he needed light, and he need his equipment. This was most certainly an emergency situation and he needed to treat like he would have back when he was an EMT. 

Ryan dropped the large black and white medical kit next to Alex's hip and immediately backed away when the smaller man hastily opened the kit and began pulling out supplies. He had nothing for the wing, that would have to wait until the paramedics arrived, but he could stabilize the arm and slow the forming bruise on the other man's face.

He pulled out splinting materials and gauze and an instant cold pack, setting to work quickly and efficiently. "Four minutes, Alex." Jack rumbled. He nodded his head and, finishing his work, before he took Jon's pulse again. Strong, but rapid, and he showed no signs of waking so he maintained his task of watching over the other man until the other professionals arrived.

There were sirens in the near distance as Geoff tried to creep forward. "Is he alright?" he questioned meekly and Alex snorted.

"I don't know." he spoke honestly. "He's unconscious but beyond that I can't tell you." Geoff didn't get a chance to respond as an ambulance and a cop car pulled up. Everything was a flurry of activity as the paramedics arrived with more equipment and a stretcher and Alex, his voice calm, filled them in as the police backed them away.

"Male, early thirties, skateboarding accident. Concussion likely, further brain and skull trauma possible, wing and arm almost certainly broken...."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jon hurt everywhere. Why did he hurt so much? He blinked his eyes opened, immediately assaulted by the bright, white room around him. "Hey, you're awake." He gingerly turned towards the warm voice, instantly regretting the motions. "Easy there Jon. You're in a world of hurt right now, you shouldn't be moving around too much. Let me call a nurse and then I'll fill you in, alright?" He squeaked weakly in assent and Alex jabbed a button on the side of the bed. A few moments later a kindly young nurse entered the room, checked Jon's vitals and chart before pressing a button on his IV. 

"This one won't make you drowsy, Mr. Risinger, and you'll find yourself feeling better in a few moments. The doctor will be in shortly to check on you."  
She left, leaving them alone in the room and Alex settled in his chair again, clutching his coffee cup like it was lifeline. He'd been here all night, being the immediate point of contact for Jon. 

"What happened?" The bat hybrid grunted out and Alex sighed, scratching one floppy ear before he spoke.

"You fell skateboarding earlier, trying to avoid Gavin after he fell on the ramp where you were riding. You have a pretty nasty concussion, but that helmet saved you from a skull fracture. Your arm and wing on the other hand..." Alex tapered off. "Your arm is broken clean through at the Humerus and several of the finger bones in your wing were dislocated. They put a cast on your arm and fixed the wing, which they have splinted up and bound to prevent any more damage." Alex reported gently, and watched as Jon sighed sadly. 

He told them he had wanted nothing to do with that damned bet, fun or not, and now look where he was.  
Not wanting to talk anymore, Jon wrapped his good wing around him and drifted away again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alex stayed with him the first few nights, sleeping in the guest room and checking on Jon every two hours to make sure the older man was recovering from his concussion the first two nights, and then to make sure he was getting on well enough with the one arm. 

Satisfied the Jon would be okay, and encouraged by the other man, Alex went back to his own home on the fifth day, and Jon had the whole weekend to relax before he was due back on Monday. Jordan was kind enough to offer him a ride until his arm was better, seeing as the other man was on his way in and he genuinely enjoyed the other's company.

Jon was thankful he could work well enough with only the one arm, even if he was a bit slower because of it, and everyone was great about not bumping or jostling his sore body, especially his splinted wing. However, as much as he was enjoying the company of the other Rooster Teeth employees after the incident, he wanted nothing to do with the Achievement Hunter guys and did his level best to avoid them, apologies or not. And when Jon Risinger wanted to avoid you, avoid you he did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Geoff tried to apologize by trying to put everything back to normal. He tried inviting Jon back to the office, out to lunch to chime in on a video, only to be met with the solid wall of Jon's good wing and a favored pair of headphones at every turn.

Finally, he mustered up all his annoyance after a few days of cold negative answers or just plain being ignored and he grabbed Jon gently, turning his chair around firmly even as he was met with cold and wary eyes. Geoff's heart panged at that. Jon was as good as one of his boys however much as they poked and prodded him and it felt wrong to have Jon avoiding them so thoroughly. 

Not only that, but Jon had somehow worked his way into their weird little Pride, seemingly without trying, and everyone else was feeling the loss of his presence in their makeshift "den". He knew now he should have reigned in the boys, should have reigned himself in as well, but too little too late and now Jon wanted nothing to do with them on top of his injuries.

Geoff sighed heavily, placing a hand in Jon's hair between his wildly flickering ears, pat once and favored the younger man with a sad smile. "I'm sorry." he murmured and then turned on his heel and walked back to his office, leaving Jon to wrap himself in his wing again, unsure how to process what had just happened.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jack said it in his usual way, with kind words, soft touches and unending gentleness. Jon was marginally less angry with Jack than he was with the others. While Jack hadn't really played a part in pestering Jon into the bet like the others had, he hadn't stopped them like he tried to do most of the time. So he was still pretty sore about it overall. Not that Jack was making it easy to stay mad at him. It was all soft smiles and quiet apologies with big sad eyes and an understanding that Jon needed his space right now, even if was weird and hurt a little that he was gone from their daily routine, from their space.

Jon knew someone was coming to check on him, and it wasn't Alex. Despite the young man's small size, he had a coonhound's voice and was usually pretty loud, especially when he was excited or happy. But somehow, Jon kept waking up from his afternoon naps, a minor side effect of his stronger pain killers that he took at two in the afternoon, with a blanket draped over him and a fresh water bottle nearby. Things he most definitely didn't fall asleep with. One day, it was less of a nap and more of a doze and he was startled awake by the sound of his office door being cracked open.

He knew this was his opportunity to find out about his afternoon visitor, so he cracked an eye open and was startled to see Jack there, a soft tartan flannel draped over his arm and a water bottle in hand. Jon closed his eyes as Jack crept close, the lion light on his feet despite his build and he set the bottle on the ground before standing up half way, draping the blanket over Jon's curled form. Jon almost startled when a soft hand ruffled through his hair and Jack's voice rumbled quietly through the dim office.

"I'm sorry Jon. We all are. I hope you'll come back soon. But only when you're ready." Jack sighed and stood all the way up before he padded softly out of the room, leaving Jon to mull over his words and pretend like they didn't make him tear up the very littlest bit.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Gavin said it loudly. Much like Geoff, he tried to bring things back around to normal, but in his own special way. He bounced into Jon's office or to the On The Spot set or wherever the man was, twittering and chirping with excitement as his wings flailed, inviting Jon to some activity or another. Twice Jon treated him to an angry hiss or an irritated chitter, which quickly alerted everyone in the room that Jon _was not_ happy, before he finally just started ignoring him outright, wing stretched out like a leathery wall, the fur of his back rippling with the action of keeping Gavin out.

The lark would squawk and twitter at being ignored, whining and screeching Jon's name until, finally one day shortly before the podcast, Jon whirled around with an angry chatter, eyes ablaze, and buffeted Gavin, not too hard but hard enough to get his point across, with his good wing. 

"No Gavin!" He hissed madly, pulling his wing back and whirling away. Normally, he wouldn't have been so quick to snap, but it had been a week of almost constant nagging, everything still hurt so much and the meds were making him snappier and sassier overall. He stormed away and settled himself on the couch for the show, one of the production assistants brought him over a Propel, because he couldn't have his usual pear cider on the meds he had, and he settled in for the next two hours.

If Jon was quieter than normal and fidgeted with his wing for a while, well, no one mentioned it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryan tried it in his own, special and kind of creepy way. Sometimes he was just there suddenly, which was always a little startling no matter how friendly the older man's smile was. Usually he was bearing little scraps of paper, which were a mix of handwritten messages, old quotes from videos he thought Jon would like and even funny little comics from various websites and newspapers. 

He never said anything aloud when he delivered the little slips and anytime he himself couldn’t deliver them Meg was usually only too happy to fill in for him.

Jon chittered a little as he noticed another slip resting on his desk one morning after a coffee run. Ryan had never dropped off a slip without Jon being there to receive it, so what was so different about this one. Setting his cup down he picked up the sheet and unfolded it. Sketched there was a picture of a bull's head with soft eyes and a grinning tiny bat hanging from his left horn. On the bottom was Ryan's familiar handwriting, only two words in green ink.

"Miss you."

Jon bit his lip and set the paper gently aside as he settled into his chair, making sure not to jostle his wing or arm. God he was starting to miss them too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Michael said it with his actions. Geoff had been the one to knock Gavin into his path, but Michael felt bad for starting the argument that snowballed into Jon getting injured. And so he made it his mission to see Jon had everything he could need, or want, while Jon remained ignorant for most of the time. 

Crunchy fried cockroaches next to his chair at the On The Spot set, kiwi water at his desk even ice packs and tylenol during the hours when he was trying to stretch the time between his heavier pain meds. Jon enjoyed the little gifts, even as he wondered if they were coming from the guys or from someone else in the office who thought Jon needed a little extra help. Not that he minded. His doctor had warned him that, while he was healing, his already calorie demanding body would require even more as bones and muscles were knit back together.

It wasn't until, almost a week and a half after the gifts started appearing around him, Jon stumbled on his secret elf. He'd come early to the office to get caught up on a new design he'd been working on that he was especially eager to get on the shop and he'd come an hour early to work. Upon reaching his office, he'd been surprised to find the door cracked open slightly and the lamp on. 

He crept forward and peeked in, just muffling a squeak as he saw Michael there, the cat hybrid settling a venti Starbucks cup of green soy iced latte down next to another vacuum package with his favorite bug company's logo on it. 

Smiling a little he ducked away to give the other his privacy to finish with it, knowing bringing it up would only bring Michael unneeded embarrassment. If Jon purposely walked by the AH office later that day munching on his newly acquired bag of baked meal worms, well, it didn't mean anything did it?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jon was only too glad to relent and give up his ire after three weeks of avoiding the AH guys. They'd apologized over and over again and Team Building Exercise was _"absolutely done with their mopey bullshit"_ as Lindsay so eloquently put it. Plus there were flowers on his desk. Like legitimate flowers. A huge colorful arrangement that Jon didn't have to read the attached card or look up their meaning to know that this was an apology bouquet. Next to it was a bottle of bat-friendly kiwi nectar and three large bags of his favorite bug snacks.

Seeing that they'd gotten all of his favorites, and going back over the last three weeks of their repeated apologies and care for him, they were really and truly regretful for getting him injured, accident or not, and pestering him into the bet that caused his injuries. Scooping up the bottle, one of the bags and his drawing tablet, Jon made his way across the building to the AH office. The light wasn't on quite yet, it was still too early by AH standards to record and put out quality work, and so he slipped through the unlocked door with ease.

At first, no one reacted, entranced with editing as they were and assuming it was merely one of the Team Building Exercise coming in. That was until Jon settled into the spot, _his spot_ , on the couch and the leather creaked under his weight. The others whipped towards him and Jon gave them a meek smile as he set his drink and snacks aside, brandishing his tablet to show he was here to work. 

They didn't make a huge deal of it, as much as Gavin and Geoff obviously wanted to and instead turned back to their work, occasionally looking back at the man as he sketched on his tablet. Jon didn't say anything as, over the course of the morning, one by one, they came over to him, whispering a finally apology to him. If they were a tiny but misty eyed, well Jon wasn't going to say anything.

And if, when the Gents came back from fetching lunch only to find the three younger boys crammed on the couch, Gavin and Michael's fingers buried in the thick fur of Jon's back, scratching in just the right places if Jon's happy clicking and squeaking was anything to go by, they weren't going to say anything. (Especially after Jack quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, capturing Jon's peaceful, blissed look as the Lads worked on the sore muscles of his back and the Lads' gentle smiles as they reveled in having their friend back.)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It ended, as it should, with Jon back right where he belonged, busted wing, arm and all.


End file.
